LOS ANGELES — Following USC’s practice on Tuesday, senior wide receiver Michael Pittman, Jr., did little to hide how he felt the Trojan offense measured up against its defensive counterpart.

“I feel like our offense is moving really fast and I feel like every day offense dominates offense for most part,” Pittman boasted. “And I feel like everybody sees it. The defense will run a couple plays and have a hot streak and act like they won all of practice. But offense has dominated spring ball. I don’t care what anybody says.”

But USC’s spring game on Saturday was more evenly matched than Pittman would have predicted, with the USC defense getting a boost from true freshman defensive lineman Drake Jackson.
Drake Jackson was one of the top defensive linemen in the state and had offers from about a dozen top colleges before deciding on USC. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG, file)

“I can’t tell you how happy I am with where we were, Practice 1, to where we are, Practice 12,” said head coach Clay Helton, whose team still has a week of spring practices. “Both sides of the ball, there’s a sense of urgency not only to protect to ball but even so today, two turnovers by the defense.”

The spring game, held at Cromwell Field rather than the Trojans’ practice field, didn’t deviate much from a typical spring practice for USC. The team scrimmaged at the end of practice following position drills, opting not to do a full two-hour game and risk injury before heading into the summer.

After 40 minutes of drills, USC went into 15 minutes of 11-on-11. The first big play of this sequence came from cornerback Dominic Davis, who stripped receiver Devon Williams and returned the fumble for a score.

The offense struck back a series later when redshirt freshman tailback Markese Stepp broke off a 60-yard touchdown run to the right, drawing cheers from the crowd of roughly 2,000.

During the second 11-on-11 section is when Jackson shined for the Trojans. He recorded a sack early in the session, then intercepted quarterback Jack Sears and returned it for a touchdown.

“To come out here in this type of atmosphere, your first time out and have fans around and have cameras around, and make big plays like that, it’s great to see,” Helton said of Jackson, a Corona Centennial product. “That’s why you take advantage of graduating early and having a spring ball.”

Sears would get some redemption, throwing what would have been a touchdown pass to John Jackson III if the play had not been called dead early by the coaches. But overall, no quarterback did much to threaten returning starter J.T. Daniels.

Daniels himself wasn’t stellar, but managed the new Air Raid offense well and didn’t make any mistakes. USC as a whole didn’t take many shots down field, and didn’t convert on the ones it did. The Trojans largely focused on crossing routes and flares out into the flats rather than streaks or posts.

“The nature of the offense is to get the ball out of your hand,” Helton explained. “[Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell] has been on those guys all through camp, ‘Get the ball out.’ That’s why you see them getting the balls to the backs on the edge.”

Injury updates

Helton said that offensive tackle Jalen McKenzie was held out of the spring game due to a hyper-extended elbow suffered in Thursday’s practice. He is expected to return to practice next week. Offensive tackles Austin Jackson and Bernard Schirmer missed practice this past week due to personal engagements. Tight end Josh Falo missed the spring game with an AC sprain in his shoulder and Jude Wolfe sat out Saturday with a back injury. Falo is expected to return for the last week of spring practice but Wolfe will miss the final week of spring ball.